Recommendations (93)
- When it comes to civil registration, there has also been progress achieved in this area for the
Roma minority community. The Law on Personal Names in the Federation of BiH prescribed that
the entry of a name in the register of births of persons belonging to a national minority may be
made in the language and script of the national minority unless opted otherwise. The Law on
Vital Records stipulates that the personal name in the certificates and excerpts on the facts and
data from vital records for members of minorities is issued written in the language and script in
which it had been entered in the records. Regulations in the field of vital records and personal
name prescribe a facilitated mode and mechanisms of registration in vital records whereby
registrars and other officials, in accordance with the Law on Administrative Procedures, are
required to provide assistance and protection of the rights of citizens upon entry in vital records.
Thus, Article 52 of the Law on Vital Records (Official Gazette of the FBiH, No. 37/12 and
80/14) stipulates that a municipality, that is, a city, canton and the Federation of BiH must
organise free professional assistance for recording in the birth and death register for those with
the status of socially vulnerable persons or national minorities, that is, create conditions for all
those persons to be enrolled in the birth and death register. When it comes to the registration of
such individuals in vital records of municipalities or cities, the municipality, that is, the city must
exempt them from the costs and fees of registration in the birth and death register. The
guardianship body should appoint a special guardian for the subsequent registration of these
individuals in the birth and death register.
Education (No. 98-101) – Responses:
Exercise of the rights of national minorities in the field of education laid down in the laws of
Bosnia and Herzegovina, entities and cantons, can be viewed in two segments, namely:
-
exercise of the right to education of other minority communities in BiH, and
exercise of the right to education of Roma as the largest minority.
Exercising the right to education of other minorities in Bosnia and Herzegovina can be
provisionally described as integrated in e economic, social, cultural and other structures of the
community. Members of the minority communities direct their activities in the field of education
primarily towards providing additional classes for children to learn the language of the nation of
origin. This function has been successfully achieved thanks to links with diplomatic
representatives and non-governmental organisations of countries of origin or it is organised in the
framework of the association (NGO) or clubs of economically independent organisations of
minorities (Slovenians, Jews, Hungarians).
It should also be noted that the census results have not yet been published (exact data on the
number of every national minority and ‘Others’ in Bosnia and Herzegovina), and therefore, there
is no identification of interests and demands of minorities in terms of these rights under the Law
on Protection of Rights of Members of National Minorities.
When it comes to the solution of the phenomenon of mono-ethnic schools and ‘two-schoolsunder-one-roof’ in the field of education to eliminate segregation in the education system, it
should be noted that this does not apply to national minorities in Bosnia and Herzegovina
and the Roma national minority in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Instead, this phenomenon
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